Understanding
by thelastcity
Summary: NCIS/Bones crossover, gen no pairings . Gibbs meets Max. Tony bears the consequences.


**Title:** Understanding  
**Author:** _thelostcity/thelastcity  
**Fandom:** Crossover, NCIS/Bones  
**Genre:** Gen (pre-slash if you wear Gibbs/DiNozzo slash goggles)  
**Characters:** Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, Ziva, Booth, Bones, Angela  
**Pairing:** None  
**Categories:**  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** none  
**Spoilers:** Bones: through The Bone that Blew. NCIS: Hiatus  
**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to FOX, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.  
**Author's notes:** Beta'd by the lovely SapphireDesire. Oddly, this came to me from Gibbs' "I was gonna say, 'Either of you two wingnuts ever disobey a direct order again...I'll kill you myself.'" in Light Sleeper. I'm not really sure how Bones factored in, but I wondered about Gibbs' reaction when he found out about Max.

Also: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS  
For Bones all you need to know is that Brennan's (also called Bones) parents abandoned her when she was 15 and her father has since reappeared in her life. He often comes and goes, though in The Bone that Blew we find out he has a job in Brennan's lab (The Jeffersonian).  
For NCIS all you need to know is that Gibbs' wife and daughter were murdered in 1991 while he was fighting in Desert Storm. He's still **very** broken up about it.

**Summary:** Gibbs meets Max. Tony bears the consequences.

* * *

They were walking down the stairs, back to Brennan's office, after their run-in with Max when Tony made some smart-ass remark to lighten the tension. Waiting until they'd reached the floor before doing it, so he wouldn't fall down the stairs, Gibbs reached over and head-smacked Tony. Hard. A split second later, Gibbs found himself shoved into one of the support pillars, Tony's hand fisted in his shirt.

Ziva and McGee saw the whole thing, having watched the two men walk down the stairs. When Tony pinned Gibbs they shot to their feet bringing their hands to their weapons, but didn't run out to see what was going on when they noticed that Gibbs wasn't fighting back.

"What?" Booth asked when he saw them rise. He followed their gaze to where Tony was holding Gibbs against the pillar. "Is everything okay?"

"No," was the simultaneous answer from the two NCIS agents. Ziva looked at McGee, "Tony is very angry."

McGee looked back at her, "Very."

Tony wasn't angry, he was furious, breathing harshly into Gibbs' face. "You don't do that," he spat. "Not that hard. Not when I don't deserve it, and not even when I do." Gibbs just stared back stonily. "It hurts, I know it hurts, and I *get* that. I won't pretend that I can understand how much it hurts, but I *get* it. You're angry at him, hell I'd be ripshit if I were you. You would give anything, _anything_, for one more day, and he just left." Gibbs closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the pillar in a rare show of emotion. "But you're not angry at me, so you don't get to do that. Not like that." With a not-exactly-gentle shove into Gibbs' chest (right over his heart), Tony released his fist. "Go get some coffee," he said and stalked back into Brennan's office.

Booth and Brennan clearly had no understanding of the magnitude of what they'd just witnessed, but Ziva and McGee were floored. No one did that to Gibbs, and if they tried they certainly didn't escape alive. But here was Tony, walking back into the office after having not only pinned Gibbs without protest but clearly having ripped him a new one.

Ziva, still standing at the ready, spoke first, "Where is Gibbs?"

Tony glared as he walked past, clearly still very angry, "Coffee." He sat down at the table, closed his eyes, took and released a deep breath, and reached for the information on the serial killer the two teams were tracking. His fellow NCIS agents exchanged glances, but remained uncharacteristically silent. They sat down with him and attempted to get back to work as well. Booth turned to Brennan and asked for her latest findings.

Not unaware of what had happened but willing to let Booth take the lead, Brennan launched into what she had found on the latest body. "Well the kerf marks on the ribs were similar to those found on the other bodies, suggesting that he's found a replacement weapon." As she was getting into the nitty-gritty anatomical terms, Gibbs entered the office, holding a mug of coffee. He'd decided to utilize the Jeffersonian kitchenette rather than go out for his usual brew.

Brennan kept talking, Booth split his attention between her and the rest of the room, and Ziva and McGee looked from Tony, who continued poring over the reports in front of him, to Gibbs, who sipped his coffee and watched Tony. Just then Angela came in with the facial reconstruction.

Using her distraction to his advantage, Gibbs stepped over to Tony and ran his hand over the back of the younger man's head. Resting his hand over the spot he'd hit just a second longer than necessary, Gibbs rubbed his thumb over it before dropping his hand to Tony's shoulder. Tony gave a nearly imperceptible nod and his posture immediately relaxed.

Turning back to Gibbs and Tony, Ziva and McGee were surprised to see Gibbs' hand on Tony's shoulder and Tony looking much more relaxed and not at all angry. Ignoring their curious looks, Gibbs shifted into case-mode, "Whaddya got?"

DiNozzo leapt up then and started talking a-mile-a-minute about whatever he'd found in those reports while Ziva and McGee tried to figure out what had happened.


End file.
